Florida coronavirus: Nearly 10,000 new COVID-19 cases following record testing day

TAMPA (WFLA) — Florida broke its single-day coronavirus case record Saturday morning when the health dept. reported nearly 10,000 new cases of COVID-19.

A total of 132,545 people have tested positive for the new virus in the state of Florida, which is 9,585 more than Friday.

The health department reported 149 new hospitalizations and 24 additional deaths.

The state said a total of 78,345 people got tested Friday — a new record. The percent positivity for new cases— the number of people who tested positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day — on Friday was 12.82%.

The state started releasing the median age of cases by day in its daily report last week. The median age on Friday followed a three-day trend of 34. Tampa Bay area counties have reported an upward trend in young adults testing positive for the virus.

According to DeSantis, a similar trend is being seen in counties throughout the state.

“What we’ve seen, particularly over the last week, is a real explosion in new cases among our younger demographics,” he said. “When we started this in March, the median age of people who tested positive was – I think – 65. As the testing ramped up, that went into the 50s. But it was pretty much in the 50s for most of the time and then just recently has really plunged.”

The state report released Saturday shows Floridians in the 25 – 34 age range account for the largest percentage of cases. A total of 25,815 people in that age group have tested positive – 20% of the state’s total. Of those cases, 836 people have been hospitalized and 19 have died.

Here is the county-by-county breakdown across Tampa Bay as of Saturday: